I just wanted to sort of write down an update on our outlook for the year to come. This is sort of stream of conciousness, no holds barred kind of thing. I’ll try to keep it more readable than Courtney Love’s blog posts.

In 2008, we played the most shows ever. Some would argue that we should ride that wave and play more shows in 2009. They would lose the argument. We discussed this long into the night, but came up with the realization that we’ve hit the limit in Seattle. Venues don’t like the average band to play more than twice/month in the same city, and we just tend to play in the same city. And it’s hard for the core fans to come see us every time when we play more. We also want to work hard on our craft. Especially write more songs. You can’t write more songs when you spend a great deal of time preparing for a gig, and we don’t want people to have to listen to the same songs every time. So, one thing we’ll do to balance this out is to try to meet up with everyone in a wider range of venues. Maybe we’ll get more exposure that way. We keep playing at bigger places, so that’s looking good. And we’re going to increase the range of places we play. We play regularly at the Funhouse, the High Dive, the Skylark, and so on, but we’ll expand. We’re playing in Portland regularly now. We also are always looking for other places in driving distance. And we’ve been tossing around the idea of a West Coast tour–oh wait, the economy canceled that. Congress, the President, and the Financial Industrial Complex spoke with us, and we all agreed that it was best if they just bailed themselves out with the money we were going to use for the tour. We came to that agreement, because it was best for everyone involved.

Anyway, now that we’re playing the Seattle circuit regularly, we can focus on the quality of the gigs even more. We don’t want you to be bored. We’re trying out the concept of doing something new and different at every single show, so that we don’t get bored either. If we write a song every month or two, it makes things easier. Plus, stick a cover or two in there, and you can see how things can’t go wrong. Covers are a fickle mistress, though. They’re easy to learn, but they’re hard to execute on. But wrap them up in a snuggly cocoon of Hidden Number gooey goodness, and I think they’ll be smooth enough. And we’re always looking for new bands to play with. But you just can’t go wrong with any band on the POST-grunge compilations. They all kick ass.

Hidden Number practice

We’re half-way done with an album, but like I say give us another 6 months and we should pretty much have it wrapped up in a little silky bow. Dean’s got this wild idea of issuing vinyl singles. There are new songs like Human Error, Friendz 4 Evar!!!1, Fang to Deth, and U R Transparent. We’ve been working on electronic versions of songs, too, and let me say, to quote Josh, they’re like HOT FUDGGGGE. Are you thinking b-side as much as I am? b-side, meaning the brown side, as in the side that contains ALL THE FUDGE!!!1. (Again, I quote Josh) We’re glad Josh brought the magic of FUUUUUDGE.

What else? We’re embracing all that is digital, except for the Moog and theramin. But we’re communicating across the toobs. We’re collaborating on the webz while we toil at our dayjobs, with email titles such as “band practice agenda” and “set list discussion topic argument”. And you can’t go wrong with secret online group accounts, where we post all our lyrics and such ilk, while managing a shared calendar of events. And then there’s the transferring of practice recordings onto USB for day job consumption and recreational analysis.

And the newletters keep broadcasting to the masses. In this age of RSS, a newsletter is pointless, and yet we must not quit. Perhaps it’s our way of aiming a pink beam of information directly and personally to you. So we’ll continue to use the newsletter as our primary method of breaking the latest and greatest news. Let us know if you want to sign up. You’ll be cooking Joe’s latest recipe months before anyone else on your block.

It’s a comforting thought that this post, as will all blog posts, eventually make it to the new century’s digital Library of Alexandria, also known as the Internet Archive to be saved for all time. As information is cached exponentially, how will important works stay findable? How will the signal pierce the noise? Or equally important, how will the specific data that correlates to an inquery be fished from the overwhelming ocean of mostly pointless digressions? At some point in time a source is important, then unimportant, and then important again, as human experience slowly and inevitably nudges the human zeitgeist. The popular form of internet has only been around for around 20 years. Two hundred years from now, will this or Courtney Love’s blog be relevent? Or, like the Library of Alexandria, will all records of human knowledge, including this post, be destroyed by a clash of civilizations?

Anyway, 2009 is going to kick ass. What do you think we should do this year?

Cover the ribs, one side at a time, in the spices. First, put salt, pepper, thyme, and sage followed by a light coat of garlic, a touch of cayenne, a LIGHT dusting of turmeric, a pinch of cumin,and then a thorough coating of cinnamon, until you can barely see the other spices. Rub the spices in like
a masseuse going for a big tip. Leave in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

COOKING: Take a shallow pan that the rib ends do not hang over. Put a sheet of foil on the bottom of the pan, and wrap over the edges. Place the ribs upon the foil. Tent a large sheet of foil over the ribs, no higher than an inch or two above the meat. If it touches in a couple spots, its ok, but if the foil is in direct contact the length of the rib surface, meat will adhere to the foil and be lost. Place in an oven at 250 degrees.
For one or two racks: Four and a half to six hours
For three to sic: No less than ten hours

Remove from oven, taking off foil carefully to avoid steam,and then pull out the bones with a twisting motion, until the meat is just waiting for your face. Apply a dusting, smearing, or zesting of your gingery choice before allowing to rest out for at least 15 minutes.